Brickbat: The Big Sleazy

First Look Studio

Sidney Newman, 17, and Ferdinand Hunt, 18, were just hanging out on a New Orleans sidewalk, waiting on Hunt's mother to come back with something to eat. All of a sudden, about 10 men rushed at them, knocking them to the ground. The boys said they thought they were being robbed, but the men were plainclothes state troopers and one New Orleans police officer. The officers later said they were just trying to ID the boys. They released them after Hunt's mother, who is herself a police officer, returned.

Comments

[Suthenboy]

Brickbat reruns?

[invisible furry hand]

The boys said they thought they were being robbed, but the men were plainclothes state troopers and one New Orleans police officer.

The second half of that sentence is a non sequitur, surely

[Counterfly]

It's not robbery, it's asset forfeiture.

[Counterfly]

Well if people didn't want to be treated like that surely they'd stop voting in the structures that promote and support it.

Small price to pay for the social safety net and keeping corporate greed in check in my opinion though.

[Ted S.]

I don't think the 17- and 18-year-old kids had the chance to vote these structures in.

[Counterfly]

They'll make up for it in future votes. Unless of course their heinous crimes make them felons and prevent them from voting. In which case their friends and families will vote in their stead.

[Radioactive]

and they most likely are not a significant source of corporate greed...

[Almanian!]

They support corporate greed by proxy, and Nike, FUBU, Louis Vuitton and others thank them. So they deserved this.

Peace out.

/moar racist

[Suthenboy]

"Well if people didn't want to be treated like that surely they'd stop voting in the structures that promote and support it."

If you have spent any time in N.O. you know there is exactly zero chance of this ever happening.

[Almanian!]

Chocolate City, baby - meet the new The Man, just the same as the old The Man - 'cept for he's a Brother. Right on.

[Fist of Etiquette]

She said that a New Orleans Police officer was part of the plain clothes police team, but that the cop "appeared to have no direct involvement" in the incident "other than being physically present.

And witnessing an assault and doing nothing about it. The video camera is a better law enforcement tool than any of those officers.

Check this out.

...while they were approached by an NOPD officer who was interfering with the investigation and claiming it was her son.

And then they scurried off.

[RBS]

Why the fuck are there plainclothes State Troopers?

[An0nB0t]

Sequester cuts to the uniform fund.

[Radioactive]

no uniforms, just brown shirts...

[Suthenboy]

The state police here enforce more than traffic laws. I have seen them doing vice operations and drug stings and they do lots of undercover work. They also investigate corruption. They have jurisdiction everywhere in Louisiana and enforce all state laws.

State troopers get moved around a lot, rarely stationed in their home towns etc. to keep them from getting corrupted by local associations. It seems to be marginally effective.

[RBS]

Oh ok, sounds like SLED here in SC.

[Brett L]

Like Texas Rangers. But you know, corrupt and not Chuck Norris.

[John Galt]

Just "trying to I.D. the boys" ROTFLMSAO!!!

And the most disturbing part of this story wasn't even written. Had one of the boys not been a member of a cop family the outcome likely would have been different in a negative way for the boys.

[Almanian!]

OK, seriously - two kids can't hang out on the sidewalk talking without being ATTACKED by cops? The cops couldn't drive up, and, you know, QUESTION them like Officer Krupke did to me and my buddies back in the day? Even though THAT is utterly unnecessary and presumes some nefarious activity absent any evidence - at least it's not physical force.

These kids were doing nothing - nothing. We're so far over-the-cliff fucking doomed it's just horrid.

FUCK New Orleans.

[RBS]

Not doing anything is doing something. It's right there in the Commerce Clause...

[ZinxMinx]

Sounds liek a very serious plan to me ddue. I like it.

http://www.WorldAnon.da.bz

[Maggie McNeill]

Louisiana cops (especially NOPD) just love huge gangs against individuals; the one time I was arrested it apparently took 15 cops to handle one naked 130# hooker. http://maggiemcneill.wordpress.com/2010/08/04/402/